


The Boy In The Barn

by Medie



Series: Saltwater Soldier [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Newfoundland, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tumblr Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 08:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4599603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the strangest thing Ed’s ever seen, if you’re asking. A grown man with straggly hair and a <em>metal arm</em> being fussed over by a bunch of curious Newfoundland ponies.</p><p>aka the Bucky Barnes ends up in Newfoundland and gets taken in by the locals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy In The Barn

**Author's Note:**

> tygermama's always been after me to write one of these and last night some awesome anon prompted me with: 
> 
> "Bucky, huddled in a blanket, holding a cup of tea, surrounded by slobbery dogs, watching M*A*S*H with a Newfie farming couple who have no idea what to do with Mr Surly-Metal-Arm."
> 
> So I had to expand it some. didn't get EVERYTHING in but brother I came close :)

They find him in the barn with the ponies. It’s the strangest thing Ed’s ever seen, if you’re asking. A grown man with straggly hair and a _metal arm_ being fussed over by a bunch of curious Newfoundland ponies. They're nipping at his hair, nudging his shoulders, generally milling around him like he's the most interesting thing in all creation.

The dogs are even worse about it; the damn furry traitors. Joey and Clyde both just bound past him with happy barks and damn near flatten the poor boy when they jump on him.

“Mind now you don’t squash the poor bugger,” he calls after them as if those two have ever paid him a moment’s heed in their damned lives. The only one they’ll even consider listening to is Marjorie and he’s not sure he wants to be calling her out when he hasn’t the foggiest just what to be doing right now.

It occurs to him that this is probably the most foolish thing he's done in his life, he should be running for the phone to call the Mounties, but he keeps right on walking toward the boy and doesn't feel so much as a lick of regret about it.

Not even when the boy looks at him with something that’s probably supposed to be a fearsome scowl. Supposed to be, but Ed’s less impressed (and less scared) by the moment. Joey and Clyde aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, but on judging character they can’t be beat and they’re looking at him with faces so pitiful, Ed almost can’t hold in his laughter.

It's the doggy equivalent of 'can we keep him?' and damned if it's not working.

“Well, son,” he says, after a moment’s figuring, “either you’re in the finest fix of your life or I’m about to be the next top story on Here & Now.” He can see Debbie Cooper in his head now, briskly reading out the news of East Coast farmer killed by vagrant in his own damned barn. Well, at least it'll make a good bit of entertainment for the townies.

“I don’t know what that is,” the boy says, soft. His scowl fades a little, giving Ed a good look at the fear behind it. “I…” he looks away and fear is joined by frustration. Wherever the boy picked up that arm, Ed has a mind to thinking they gave him a few other unwanted presents as well.

Joey whines and tucks his big black head beneath the stranger’s metal hand, bumping meaningfully.

Ed can’t stop a smile of his own when the boy startles, but then manages a wan little smile and starts scratching obediently. "So, you're in some kind of trouble then.” He thinks of that mess on the news with the Yanks. One of their agencies tearing itself to pieces. Annie had mentioned something about it when she'd called the night before too. He takes another look at that arm. Right. "With the law or with the kind of folks who don't much take notice to things like laws?"

The boy looks at him. "They think I did things."

"Did you?"

"I think they made me." The boy looks at him. “I don’t remember much.”

“Don’t suppose you might know your name?”

The boy's smile, faint though it was, wavers and then warms. “The man on the bridge said my name was Bucky.”

It's not one he's heard before. Might go a ways into helping the boy figure things out. 

“Well, Bucky, I’m Ed. Those two giving you the puppy eyes are Clyde and Joey. Don’t you mind the slobber or the size. They’re big sooks the two of them and have apparently have taken quite the shine to you.” Ed holds out his hand. “C'mon up out of there. You’ll be needing a wash and some supper before we start worrying about anything else.”

Bucky looks surprised. “But…”

“But nothing. If you had a mind to hurt me, you would’ve tried already and those two wouldn’t be not half so friendly in their greeting.” Ed gestures with his hand again. “Son, no Langdon has turned away a soul in trouble in five hundred years and I’m not about to start now.”

He grins. “Don’t know how I’m going to explain this to the Missus, though, but it’s hardly the first time I’ve had to do some fancy dancing.”

Probably won’t be the last either.

It's just the way things are. 

Marjorie as much agrees with him when he explains. "Sleeping in the _barn_?" The look on her face is something more than thunderous and Ed's not sure the last time he saw her so outraged. "Well, now, you won't be doing that any longer, my son," she says, already headed for the kettle. "You sit yourself right down at that table. For starters we're going to get a good meal into you and then it's off to the tub with you." 

Standing up, Bucky's an intimidating sort. Or, rather, would be if not for the meek way he slinks to the table and sits precisely where Marjorie pointed. Ed gets a couple of mugs from the cupboard and puts them on the table. "Best go with it, son. Marjorie gets riled up like this the kaiser himself wouldn't get in her way."

"Not if he knew what was good for him," Marjorie mutters at the stove. "Which you usually don't."

Ed winks at her and she glares back, but he can see the twinkle hiding behind it. He drops a few slices of bread into the toaster and sits down with their guest. "You don't have to tell us what's wrong, son," he says, resting his forearms on the table. "You just sit right there and let your soul catch up with you. Something tells me it hasn't had much of a chance for a good long while."

He has no idea, really, what he's doing here. Whatever is going on with this boy, if it was about that mess in the States, then it's more than he or Marjorie would know how to handle. Annie might, but she's in Toronto, and he can't imagine explaining this one on the phone.

"Got a daughter," he says, after a moment, "She's a cop on the mainland. Don't know if she can help you, but if you decide you want to try..." 

Bucky looks at his hands. "And if I don't?"

"Spare room doesn't have any ponies in it, but it's got a bed and I could use a hand around here." Ed shrugs. "Not getting any younger and those ponies get to be a handful and a half when they're feeling stubborn about it."

"You---" Bucky's head jerks up. "You'd let me stay?"

Marjorie brings the kettle to the table, filling their mugs with steaming hot water before dropping a tea bag in each. "You talk like he has a choice in the matter. You look half-dead, child and I'm not letting anyone take you out of here until I'm damned good and ready to let you go."

She smiles and, after a moment, Bucky smiles back. "Okay," he says, taking the tea. 

"Okay," Ed agrees

Don't know what on earth they've gotten themselves into, but he's not going to regret it one bit.


End file.
